Talking Points #9: "Citizenship in School" Christopher Kliewer

          Citizenship in School: Re-conceptualizing Down Syndrome covers the fact that children with down syndrome are often marginalized in schools. It offers insight to the notion that community is an important part of the learning process and the fact that we are all different and it is from these differences that we can grow from each other. The author makes light of the fact that those with down syndrome may be different physically and in cases mentally, but they have spirit and willingness, which is something that we all have as learners. The first quote that caught my eye and also may favorite in all of the readings thus far is, "Humility, Freire (1993) agrees, is central to democracy. 'How can I dialogue,' Freire asks, 'if I always project ignorance onto others and never perceive my own? How can I dialogue if I regard myself as a case apart from others--mere 'its' in whom I cannot recognize other 'I's?" This quote is crucial to our existence. How can we grow if we just ignore and belittle those around us? So many readings came to my mind when I read this. First and foremost, "The Silenced Dialogue" because of the ignorance expressed by other educators who did not necessarily refuse new ideas, but instead they just overlooked at what others said because they were afraid to be wrong.
          This reading coincides with many others that we have done in class. The next quote that I liked tied into another reading that I did. In the reading by Elizabeth Weil, titled "Teaching Boys and Girls Separately," I found myself confused and at odds over my feelings about the notion of separating classrooms based on gender. I couldn't decide whether I agreed or disagreed, but this quote has brought me to a decision. "It's not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We're all here--kids, teachers, parents, whoever--it's about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that's what learning is. Don't tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail." The classroom that this woman is talking about does separate students by age, rather it groups them by their abilities. Three students in the classroom have down syndrome and the other 10 have to labeled disabilities. The fact of the matter is though, those students with labeled disabilities are able to learn and grow on community based relationships and they are not marginalized in a classrooms that impedes on the abilities that they can learn and grow with!
          I work as a lifeguard in the summertime and I also teach swim lessons. I have taught kids with different levels of down syndrome. Shayne Robbins quote, "I don't ten to see Down Syndrome as something. If you look at those three kids running around the room, they're incredibly different from each other. They're different in terms of what their bodies are like, how they best communicate, what they're like socially, their interests. And with those three kids in the room it would be hard to say, 'This is how you should teach kids with Down Syndrome.' They are not at all alike." This reminded me of my lessons because I have found that different kids respond to different games. For instance, Matty loved pro-wrestling. So I had to create crazy different wrestling moves that also incorporated swimming. His favorite thing to do was what I called the 'Torpedo of Doom." Matty would push off the wall towards me and I would move farther and farther away until he knocked me out, which was basically sinking under water.
          I really liked reading this article because, as the article stresses the individual and community, I was able to relate to what the author stressed. I like the idea that children with down syndrome are not alike and the fact that they do learn, just on different levels. Kids who are not labeled with disabilities learn at different levels and different teaching methods affect kids in different ways, depending on how they learn. This article makes light of an important notion that kids who are labeled with differences are marginalized in our society. These differences should be noted and conscious efforts should be made to help expand children's minds not based on their color, their gender, their disabilities, etc, but rather on what works to help all children to achieve greatness!